Most of the albums I've listened to this year, ordered. I don't know if any of these will be particularly unknown or under-appreciated around these parts, but I'd like to think that at least one person will gain something from this list.

That's less than one a day! Still I'm going to slow down a bit. This year I've been all about fun and melodious music, though there's a few undeniably good albums on this list that don't fit that description.

My way of working with regards to this list is to place an album roughly where I imagine it will go after one listen. If it had an immediately profound effect on me then it will go near the top of the list, and if I can't quite put my finger on what makes it enjoyable, but I'm sure it will hold up on repeat listens, then likewise. That way, when I listen to an album again, I can change its position based on whether it holds up well. Some highly placed albums on this list (eg; 3 and 6) got me incredibly excited after one listen, without holding up too well the second time (particularly 6), but I kept it high up because of that initial reaction and because few other albums this year have had such an effect.

I find doing things this way is good for highlighting which albums I haven't heard in a while and should revisit, for example, I haven't heard Push the Sky Away since a few weeks after it came out, which is why it may be lower than it deserves to be, while other albums (for example, Steven Wilson, because I'm a big Porcupine Tree fan) I won't revisit because they don't offer enough for me that I can't already get in a superior back-catalog.

By a count, I've only heard 40 of these more than once, so I definitely haven't listened to all of them fully, or even gotten to know most of them, but it's fun to pick and choose which of these I let grow on me, and which I let fall to the wayside.

Yeah, I think Autre Ne Veut's Anxiety is gonna be a "love it or hate it" kinda album for most people, due to the vocal style and very up-front production. For me, the album twists and turns, keeping you guessing throughout and is littered with moments of intrigue that seem to come at perfect points within the album. Plus lyrically and the way it has clearly been made by someone who has spent a lot of time on his own working on it (The excessive vocal layering suggests this), I relate to it loads.